大象传媒

My brother, who was eight years old at the time, was evacuated with all the other school children from Guernsey, prior to the occupation of the island by the German army in June 1940. He only had one little case with his belongings and some sandwiches for his lunch as the journey by boat took about four hours to Southampton. Unfortunately the case was lost overboard so he arrived at Southampton with nothing. He was billeted with a family up in Scotland, but my mother couldn't find out where he had been taken for six months.

My mother, sister and I were evacuated later on and were billeted with a wonderful family in Lancashire. When my mother eventually found my brother she arranged for him to join us, but as we were already overcrowded he went to stay with a family in the next street. One day my mother and the lady who we were billeted with went around to see him and found him on hands and knees scrubbing floors. They were very upset and although there were ten children in our family, not counting myself and sister, the lady insisted he came back with us. That lady and her husband had a heart of gold and she and mum stayed friends long after the war until mum died.

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